


Double Exposure

by Batdad (MizGoat)



Series: 19th Century AU [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: 19th century AU, M/M, Pining, canon typical horror themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-02-01 03:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizGoat/pseuds/Batdad
Summary: Footman Martin Blackwood gets asked to help Jonah Magnus’s secretary, Mr. Sims, with organizing his library’s most recent acquisition.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Series: 19th Century AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634368
Comments: 11
Kudos: 125





	Double Exposure

“I suppose you’re going to tell me that it’s all done with mirrors.” Martin held the glass plate negative up toward the window to look at the odd inverted image it contained. There was a couple sitting together on a small bench holding hands. Behind them loomed an indistinct figure that would have been a spectral white in the printed image but which was an ominous looming black in the swapped values of the negative. 

“I am not going to tell you it was done with mirrors.” Mr. Sims frowned as he leaned close to Martin’s shoulder to peer at the negative. “It’s not done with mirrors. They just expose the plate twice. First with the so called ghost and then a second time with whatever poor ignorant soul paid to have their photo taken with a ghost. I know Mr. Magnus has an interest in spiritualism, but really. I can’t imagine why he would have purchased some sham studios’ negatives.” Mr. Sims could be counted on to know the inner workings of any so called supernatural phenomenon, from spirit boards to ectoplasm. Martin wasn’t sure how he managed to gain such knowledge, but he enjoyed provoking him into explaining. 

“Maybe he thought they were a good laugh?” Martin bit his lip and began to chew, before he realized what he was doing and quit. The first time he’d been called in to help Mr. Sims with organizing one of Jonah Magnus’s unusual additions to his library he’d worn a raw spot on his lip. Mr. Bouchard, the butler, had been furious over it. Footmen were not to have unsightly sores on their mouths. Not even when forced to work in close quarters with the infuriating and delightful Mr. Sims. 

“Oh yes of course. A great lover of jokes, our employer.” Mr. Sims rolled his eyes, and turned to walk back towards the center of the library. Martin liked the way he said “our employer.” He made it almost sound as though a university educated gentleman’s secretary and a footman shared a place in life simply by both working for the same gentleman. “I don’t know where he means for us to put these. It’s not as if the library isn’t already full of his odd collections.” He ran his fingers thoughtfully along a shelf packed with boxes of letters. 

Martin replaced the first negative into the box it had come from and pulled out a second. Mostly for something to look at that wasn’t the forbidden fruit of Mr. Sims’s backside. 

This one had a similar composition to the first, but this time the ghostlike figure had its mouth open. And while the rest of the figure was vague and indistinct, its teeth were perfectly clear and crisp and midnight black. Two perfect rows of pitch colored teeth revealed by lips pulled back in a scream.

“Martin!” He felt a hand on his elbow, and he started so hard he nearly dropped the pane of glass in his hand. 

“Have you heard a word I’ve been saying?” Mr. Sims looked more concerned than upset, but Martin’s gut clenched with the shame of having been caught slacking all the same. 

“I’m sorry. Don’t know where my mind went.” Martin quickly slipped the negative back into its slot in the box. 

“Are you feeling unwell? You’ve gone a bit pale.” His hand was still on Martin’s elbow. 

“Never better,” he said, perhaps a bit too quickly. “Decided where you’d like to put these?”

“I think so, but it’s going to require rearranging and,” he paused, “condensing the items already there.” Mr. Sims flourished the statement with a sigh, and Martin tried not to hope too hard that it would be the sort of rearranging that would take all day.


End file.
